‘Arrow’ Season 3 Preview Guide: New Heroes, Villains and Everything You Need to Know!

The CW’s ‘Arrow‘ will return for its third season this week, joined by its new spinoff super-series 'The Flash,' and cementing DC's reign over superhero TV for the foreseeable future. The vigilante archer drama closed out its second season on an exceptional high, but what does season 3 hold in its quiver? Get ready for 'Arrow''s season 3 return with our comprehensive guide to everything we know about the new episodes, including new characters, crossovers, conflicts and more!

"The Calm" Before the Storm

The CW

A new day has dawned in Starling City, and things look significantly brighter than when season 2 kicked off in the wake of Malcolm Merlyn’s major earthquake. This time around, since Oliver actually managed to stop the bad guy, Starling City finally looks up to the hooded avenger as a bonafide hero. That’s right, even the police have stopped chasing after the guy, what with Detective Lance ascending through the ranks to be repositioned as Captain, in spite of his seemingly poor health.

So with the no-kill rule firmly in place, what personal crises has Oliver to overcome this year? Glad you asked! This year’s theme will be that of “identity,” as Oliver grapples with the question, “Can I be both Oliver Queen, and the Green Arrow?” That conflict will get surprisingly literal in the premiere, as we’ve seen.

Team Arrow, Version 3.0

The CW

Of course, even with crime running scared and Oliver’s vigilante persona given a green-light by the city, Team Arrow will have plenty to do this season, and an increasingly cramped home base with which to do it. Not only has Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) joined the team full-time as “Arsenal,” complete with a snazzy red costume and everything, but Felicity will be pulling double-duty as Oliver’s technological oracle and retail tech employee, what with Oliver’s ownership in Queen Consolidated going kaput last year.

Diggle will be getting pretty busy as well with a baby on the way, something that puts him at odds with Oliver, as the vigilante looks to minimize any danger posed to the father-to-be. And where’s Laurel in all of this, you ask (no one asked, but just go with it)? The elder Lance sibling won’t be donning fishnets to compliment her new leather jacket as of yet, but Laurel will help in her own way by prosecuting the criminals Oliver manages to catch.

Oh, and did we mention that Felicity and Oliver will be adding (or shedding) a few layers to their relationship with a long-awaited date? Spoilers beware, but we're guessing that one doesn't go so well.

Beyond that, we know Colin Donnell’s Tommy Merlyn will make a surprising return to the series, an especially impressive feat for a dead man. Don’t start throwing shade at ‘Arrow’ for Marvel-izing its character deaths just yet however, as Tommy will pop up in Oliver’s Hong Kong flashbacks to show how the two nearly crossed paths during Oliver’s time off-island.

That said, the Merlyns will be causing plenty of headaches in the present as well, now that John Barrowman’s Malcolm has been upped to series regular, despite being curiously absent from any of the promotional material. And what of Thea, who learned her brother’s secret, and seemingly embraced her (biological) father’s offer to train her to do some ass-kicking of her very own?

New Heroes

The CW

‘Arrow’ wouldn’t be ‘Arrow’ without a few new DC characters popping up, and season 3 is no exception. ‘Superman’ himself ‘Returns’ to TV as Brandon Routh pops up in the role of billionaire tech magnate Ted Kord Ray Palmer, best known to comic fans as “The Atom.” Don’t expect the character to don (another) red and blue suit or shrink down to size just yet however, as executive producer Marc Guggenheim recently revealed that such super-heroic feats are probably best-left to another series with a bit Flash-ier science-fiction flavor. Instead, Ray Palmer will arrive in the premiere as the new owner of Queen Consolidated, ruffling Oliver’s feathers even further with an eye for Felicity, and a new vision for Starling City.

It isn’t known exactly what interest Ra’s might have in Oliver or Starling, at least that would bring the pair into conflict after two seasons of Ra's staying in the shadows, but we imagine the League of Assassins might have had some split motivation in coming to Oliver’s aid last season. Whether or not Ra’s al Ghul really proves the “big bad” of the season as the CW would have us believe remains to be seen, but rarely does the character venture out of his Nanda Parbat home for any altruistic purposes.

Of course, you didn’t think Oliver would be the only one having flashbacks this year, did you? Not only will be explore a bit more of Diggle’s past at some point, but so too will we finally learn “The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak,” complete with ‘Dragon Tattoo’ look and MIT hacker boyfriend. Charlotte Ross will pop up as Felicity’s mother at some point, but will we learn the identity of the character’s father, whose name seems to have been tellingly hidden by producers? Hmm…

Flash...Back!

The CW

Though ‘The Flash’ will arrive just a bit faster than its parents series with an October 7 premiere, the pilot episode makes clear that we’ll be heading to Starling City now and again for a bit of crossover. Fans certainly won’t have to wait long either, as Felicity Smoak will pop up in the spinoff’s fourth episode to tie up some of her lingering chemistry with Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen, while things well get much more heated in the 8th installments of either series. Not only will‘The Flash’ come to blows with his former idol beginning with “Flash Vs. Arrow,” the two-part crossover will continue in ‘Arrow’ season 3’s “The Brave and the Bold” the very next night. Hmm, wonder if a certain timing-obsessed villain will have anything to do with it.

And suffice to say, expect the crossovers to keep coming as either season wears on. Just don’t try to get ‘Gotham’ or ‘Constantine’ involved, at least yet.

All in all, it looks as though ‘Arrow’ may skew a bit lighter in its third season, and likely feature more DC characters and crossover than ever, but will the CW drama manage to outdo its predecessors? Check out the latest trailer again above, and tell us what you want to see from The CW’s ‘Arrow’ season 3, premiering Wednesday at 8:00 P.M.!